


The Charming Prince

by KByrd



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies), Thor - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Not all relationships tagged to avoid spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-04-15 12:18:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4606512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KByrd/pseuds/KByrd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki has to lay low in Jane's apartment after Thor breaks him out of prison. Takes place during Thor 2 with some creative liberties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

Such a charming prince …

 

It’s a measure of how out to sea Jane feels in Asgard that when Sigyn comes to collect her, her protests are muted. Normally Jane likes to know every detail of a plan down to every variable plus the backups if something goes wrong.

But today, she follows meekly along as Sigyn leads her swiftly and surely out of the palace and along a path that goes from smooth, well-worn stone to hard packed dirt and then to loose gravel and mud.

Jane sneaks a peek at Sigyn as they hike.

She’s beautiful in the other worldly way that Jane has noticed in other Asgardian women – tall and slim with golden skin and dark eyes, full lips and thick black hair falling in a sheet down her back.

“Do you think this will work?” Jane dares ask once she judges that they are far away from eavesdroppers.

“It’s high risk,” Sigyn answers honestly, “but if anyone can do it, it’ll be Thor and Loki.”

“I’m a little nervous about the whole ‘springing Loki from jail’ bit,” Jane confesses.

Sigyn looks amused. “Well, you’ll need a sorcerer and Loki’s about the most powerful one in town.”

“Hmmm.”

“What do you know of him?”

“Not much,” Jane says. “Except that he tried to blow up a small town in New Mexico and almost killed a bunch of people.”

Sigyn’s lips curl in a smile, “Well, he is a bit a prankster …”

“It was hardly a joke!” Jane protests fiercely.

Sigyn raises her hand in apology. “That’s not what I meant,” she assures Jane. “Of course what happened on Migard was terrible. What I’m trying to warn you of is that he can never resist a joke or prank. You have to keep your wits about him.”

“Delightful,” Jane mutters sarcastically.

Signy slows, looks around carefully. “We’re close,” she says quietly.

Jane sighs.

“He’s also very seductive,” Signy warns her. “Loki, I mean. He’ll charm you right out of your pants.”

Jane scowls. “Somehow I think I’ll have no trouble resisting him.”

“Just be on your guard,” Sigyn says wisely.

Jane nods. “You sound like you know him well,” she notes.

Sigyn laughs gently. “Of course, don’t you know who I am?”

“Errr … no. I haven’t really studied the Norse myths.”

“Good. Don’t believe what you read about us.”

“That’s what Thor tells me,” Jane admits.

“Odin called me a goddess of fidelity,” Sigyn says lightly, “I think he was hoping that I would be able to tame his wild second son.”

“Didn’t work out so well, huh?” Jane guesses.

Sigyn shrugs gracefully. “Maybe a little too optimistic.”

They pause on the edge of a clearing and sit on a rock.

It’s not long before Sigyn nods and points. Jane squints and makes out a shadowy shape squeezing out of a crack in the rock wall.

Her heart thumps as she recognizes Thor stepping out into the sunshine, his hammer in hand, shading his eyes and looking about cautiously.

Sigyn tips her head, indicating that they should join him in the clearing.

A shadow steps out from behind Thor and Jane narrows her eyes to focus on Loki as he steps into the sunshine for the first time in a very long time. She’s never seen him before, only one drawing of him in a children’s book that Eric showed her once so she’s unprepared for the reality.

He’s taller than she expected, lean and dark, wearing almost exclusively dark leather clothes. His hair is dark, long and slightly greasy. His face is pale and angular – he’s younger than she expected and far more attractive than a bad guy has any right to be.

She watches as he squints into the sunshine and takes a long breath, filling his lungs.

They walk over to greet the men.

Loki ignores Jane and focuses on Sigyn. “Well, if it isn’t my lucky day,” he drawls. His accent is cut glass, very upper class English, snob factor dialed up to max ...

Sigyn smiles gracefully. “Hey darling,” she says sweetly. “Looking a little pale, aren’t you? Did you overdo the sunscreen?”

He scowls at her.

“Mind keeping the foreplay to a minimum?” Thor growls. “I want to get out of here.”

“I have a few issues with the plan,” Loki sneers. “I sense a few holes in it.”

“We can hash out details later,” Thor grunts. “For now, it’s the best I’ve got.”

“Dear gods,” Loki grumbles. “If Thor’s getting creative, we’re all in trouble.

Jane snaps. She’s stressed and worried and not 100% sure of the plan herself, but she’s furious at this arrogant so and so who appears to have NO respect for the risk that Thor has just undertaken to spring him from jail. She approaches him, eyes blazing. “Shut up!” she snarls, “You are a piece of scum and you should thank your lucky stars for Thor’s love. He’s the only one who wants to get you out of that damn cell and unless you want to rot in their forever …”

“Jane!” Thor interrupts.

Sigyn grabs her arm and pulls her back.

Loki pulls himself up to his full height and looks down his nose at her.

Jane glares. “You nasty  … petty … jumped up little bully …”

Thor rolls her eyes. “Jane …”

“Is this your mortal, Thor?” Loki smirks. “I LIKE her,” he says in delight. His lips curl in a parody of a smile.

Sigyn rolls her eyes. “Of course you would,” she mutters.

Jane deflates. This is not the reaction she was aiming for.

They get into position – Sigyn scrambling up the rock face for a good view. Thor grabs an ornately carved staff then grabs Jane with one hand and Loki in the other.

“Oh, like circle time,” Loki murmurs. “Are we about to sing?”

Thor glares.

“We’re ready Heimdall,” he calls out to the sky.

There’s an almighty boom, a flash of light and then darkness descends and all three are yanked into the air.

They land awkwardly, flung into close-cropped grass in the back of a suburban house.

Thor staggers, peers up into the sky and says something or mouths something, maybe ‘thanks’ to Heimdall, but no-one can hear him for the buzzing in their own ears.

Loki, too, is staggering and shaking his head a bit like a dog coming out of water. He’s muttering something and Jane can guess it’s not very complimentary.

They’re in London and Jane is astonished at how close Heimdall got them to their destination, a modest brownstone walk-up, only a few houses down from the backyard they landed in. Jane pulls out her key, silently thanking the gods that she was able to keep it with her through all the intergalactic travel, and lets them in.

She half wonders what they think of her apartment which is small, of course, but clean and modern. Thor hangs up Mojölnir and follows Jane into the kitchen where she rummages around, finally producing a bottle of wine and some decent glasses.

The ringing in their ears prevents conversation, which is probably just as well.

Loki stays standing in the middle of the living room as if he’s trying to figure out what he’s going to do next. Apparently the scowl on his face is his default look.

Thor hands him a glass of wine. Then Thor collapses heavily onto the couch and pulls Jane to sit next to him. Loki settles more gingerly into the large armchair and they drink their wine and rest while the sun sets, the apartment grows dark and the ringing in their ears subsides.

Jane tries to ignore Loki as she snuggles into Thor’s side.

By the time the bottle is empty, they can hear again although the ringing has only decreased, not vanished.

“I’m only staying here one night,” Thor says. “I don’t want to draw trouble to you.”

Loki sneers, but says nothing.

“You know how to summon me if the need arises?” Thor asks Jane, kissing the top of her head.

“I’ll be fine,” she assures him gently.

“As long as you refrain from using magic, you should be undetectable,” Thor reminds Loki.

“I heard you the first time,” Loki answers sharply. “You do know that I’m using magic at this very moment?”

Thor scowls. “I was told that shape-shifting is generally undetectable, but using glamours and such will create a spike of magic that can be detected by those who are looking for it.”

Jane frowns, looking confused.

“So I stay as I am,” Loki states flatly.

Thor rolls his eyes. “Shift if you want. Up to you.”

Loki glares at him.

Jane opens her mouth to ask a question, but Thor subtly shakes his head. Her mind is whirling at the implications. If Loki is a shape-shifter, what does that mean? He looks nothing like Thor – is that on purpose?

Thor climbs to his feet. “I’m going to take the lady Jane to bed,” he announces. “Do you need food? There’s pizza in the freezer with instructions.”

Loki waves his hand. “Go, enjoy. I’ll just stay here and wish my ears were blocked up again.”

Thor snorts and hands him the remote. “Here, you can watch TV with this device.”

Jane points to a small pile of blankets. “There’s a pillow and sheets. Sorry I don’t have a guest room, but I think the couch is … well not too … um … sorry.”

He quirks one eyebrow very expressively.

She sighs. “Sleep well,” she says uncertainly.

**

Jane sleeps poorly and stays in bed later than usual; Thor gets up, makes breakfast, kisses her goodbye and leaves as he said he would. She buries her face into the pillows and tries to remind herself to be brave.

She showers as soon as she gets up and drags herself into the main living area where her unwanted guest is sitting on the couch, idly flipping through channels on the TV.

“Good morning,” Loki greets her, without bothering to rise. “I would make breakfast, but I’m afraid I don’t know how.”

“That’s fine,” she answers coolly, pouring herself a mug of lukewarm coffee. “I’m not hungry. Didn’t Thor make breakfast?”

“He did,” Loki confirms. “Quite domesticated. It wasn’t half bad, but he didn’t leave anything for you.”

“That’s fine,” she says. “Would have been cold by the time I got up anyways.”

He appears not to be listening to her.

“So I’m going out for a bit,” she says softly, not looking at him. “I’ll pick up some clothes for you and do a bit of grocery shopping. Is there anything you’d particularly like?”

“Goth,” he answers promptly. “Black leather and swoopy capes.”

She snorts, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Her errands take longer than expected. She dithers in the men’s section looking at clothes. She has no idea what size to buy so she recruits a young salesman who looks to her eyes to be about the same height as Loki and asks him for his opinions.

Loki is not terribly grateful when she finally arrives home, her arms loaded with bags.

“Where have you been?” he snarls at her as she pushes open the door with her foot and dumps a pile of bags on the floor.

“Hold that thought,” she snaps, going back downstairs to get a few more bags.

She returns to see that he’s pawing through the bags. He pulls out a pair of men’s jeans and raises his eyebrows at her.

“No goth,” she snaps irritably. “You’re supposed to be hiding, remember?”

“It’s not only that,” he murmurs. “You seem to have estimated my size all wrong.”

“Leave the labels on,” she says wearily. “I got a selection and I’ll take back the ones that don’t fit.”

Her head is throbbing and her nausea has returned.

“You seem unwell,” he observes.

“Oh very clever,” she snaps irritably.

He follows her to the kitchen. “Are you with child?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s not the ONLY thing that can be wrong with a woman,” she answers curtly.

She pulls a laptop from one bag and hands it to him. “I picked this up from the lab and I’ll show you how to download books onto it so you can read whatever you like.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” he says. “How did you know I like to read? The only other Asgardian you know is Thor.”

She rolls her eyes. The living area looks the same as when she left this morning. He hasn’t put away the sheets or the breakfast dishes and there’s no sign that he made lunch. She grits her teeth, cursing the spoiled princes of Asgard and sets up in the kitchen, slicing and dicing vegetables and filling pots with sauces.

Loki apparently has no sense of privacy or personal space. He looms over, watching her carefully until she has to remind herself not to give way. She lifts her chin defiantly.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working or something?” he asks.

“I’m off this week,” she explains. “That’s why I went into the lab. Told them I’d be taking some time for myself.”

“Ah.”

“I can do a bit from home, but I was last based in New York so that’s where most of my stuff is. This lab is just a satellite office.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s not like we could hide you in New York,” she continues blithely.

He smirks. “You think people in London don’t hate me?”

She chops her vegetables a little more fiercely, but says nothing further.

She serves him dinner, which he has the good grace to eat politely without complaining. She knows that Thor generally finds earth food bland, overly salty and filled with chemicals, but she’s been to the farmer’s market (part of what took so long) and she’s hoping that Loki is hungry enough to temper his rudeness.

She spends the evening on her computer and phone in contact with colleagues across the Atlantic. Her staff are surprised when she says she’s taking some time off, but they’re not about to question her decision.

Loki prowls the apartment, giving a very good impression of a caged cat, maybe a panther, pacing. He runs his fingers along the spines of the books in the bookcase, re-arranges the photo frames on the shelves and peers out the big kitchen window. He fiddles with the laptop and surfs the Internet like a pro, but nothing keeps his attention for long.

He is still wearing his Argardian prison clothes. “Do you want me to show you how to use the shower?” Jane asks delicately.

“Is that a subtle hint?” he says mockingly.

“Not meant to be subtle,” she responds tartly.

It turns out, he doesn’t need her help. She points him to the bathroom, shows him the soap and shampoo and goes back to her work.

After some time, Loki returns to the living area, wet hair dripping, shirtless, barefoot, wearing only a pair of black skinny jeans. Jane eyes him. It looks to her like the jeans are maybe a bit small. They cling to him, hanging low on his hips, showing the dip before his hipbones and no sign of the waistband of underwear. She jerks her eyes up, not wanting to think of Loki going commando.

He’s far more muscular that she would have imagined. Not football-player powerful like Thor, but certainly ‘cut’ as Darcy would say, with surprisingly muscular arms and flat, rippled abs. His skin is pale and unblemished, no freckles, no scars and his chest hair is dark and fine and silky. He’s rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.

He looks for all the world like a drummer for a rock band.

“Have you a blade?” he asks.

“A what?”

“I dislike the itchiness of a growing beard,” he explains.

She walks past him, back into the bathroom. She closes her eyes to the sudsy water on the floor, the long black hairs in her comb and the sink and the wet towel slung carelessly across the toilet. Instead, she opens a drawer.

“You can use the handle of my razor,” she tells him, popping off a used blade. “Here are the fresh blades and the shaving cream. It’s vanilla scented so not too flowery for a man.”

He looms over her, much too close in the confined space.

He smells of soap and toothpaste something mysterious that Jane had previously thought of as identifiably Thor, but now she’s reclassifying as Asgardian.

“Thank you,” he says softly.

The accent gets on her nerves, but she looks up at him. Funny, she hadn’t noticed before how blue his eyes are. Really, he look nothing like Thor with his ghostly skin, dark eyebrows and lashes, fine, narrow nose and high cheekbones. The faint shadow of stubble only enhances his faintly disreputable look.

“You’re welcome,” she says coolly and leaves him to it.

**

After another night of light sleep, Jane walks into the kitchen to find Loki contemplating the coffee maker.

“I thought you’d never rise,” he complains.

She fights back a wave of nausea and annoyance. “Were you waiting for me to make breakfast?”

He shrugs. “Unless you want me to set fire to your kitchen …”

She makes a face and resolves to teach any children she and Thor have (if they ever get to that point) how to cook and clean. She’s met Frigga and admires her, but oh boy, this learned helpless of the Asgard princes is annoying. Thor was just as useless at first, but he was at least willing to learn.

**

She spends most of the day running a few more errands - she returns the clothes that didn’t fit and spends more time than she should sitting on a park bench before going home.

Loki is, as she had expected, going quietly mad with boredom.

“You don’t have to stay inside, you know,” she points out. “I left you a key.”

“I went for a walk,” he says. “Not much to see.”

Apparently, he still hasn’t figured out how to cook for himself so he’s hungry and stir crazy. He hovers and sorts through the bag that she brought in without asking her permission. She tosses him an apple and a box of granola bars while she sorts out what to make for an early dinner.

“You know, there’s pizza in the freezer,” she tells him idly. “Instructions on the box so they’re pretty much idiot-proof.”

He scowls.

She waits for him to say that he isn’t an idiot, but then she planned to point out that he appears unable to feed himself so …

He munches on a granola bar.

“Why don’t you have servants?” he asks.

Thor once asked her the same thing.

“Rich people have servants,” she tells him mildly. “But I’m just an ordinary person. Can’t afford to pay a servant’s salary for something I’m perfectly capable of doing myself.”

He huffs.

She directs him to set the table and he does it.

As soon as they’ve eaten she tells him to grab his baseball cap (mostly for camouflage, but also partly to see how ridiculous he would look).

“Why?” he mutters sullenly like a rebellious teen.

“We’re going out,” she answers coolly.

They drive out of the city in a small, cramped car called a mini. Loki winces as Jane shifts gears with speed and drives with a heavy foot, weaving and bobbing through traffic like a race car. He flinches as she scoots between trucks and he flails for a handhold as she swerves sharply around a tight corner.

“Death wish?” he mutters between clenched teeth.

“Don’t like my driving?” she asks, stealing a look at him.

“Eyes on the road, please!” he hisses.

She parks at the base of a hiking trail and Loki escapes from the car.

“By all the gods,” he swears at her. “Are you trying to make a point?”

“I’ve never had an accident,” she says calmly.

“NOT reassuring!”

She shrugs.

He peers at the park. “What are we doing here?”

She points at the trail.

They hike.

The trail is well maintained, a few steps here and there, but mostly just a steady incline. There are other hikers, but most of the people they see are on their way down. They walk fast, stopping a few times at specific areas to admire the view and take a breather. Jane has brought refillable water bottles.

There are tiny bugs that swarm them, but without conviction. Jane points to a rabbit hopping along the path until it dives into the underbrush. Mostly it’s quiet here, traffic noises are muted.

Loki walks fast, filling his lungs with fresh air; Jane has to jog to keep up.

The top of the hill/mountain offers a spectacular view of the countryside.

“Pretty,” Loki admits. “Why are we here?”

She leans over the wall and smiles enigmatically. “I used to come up here to see the stars,” she tells him.  “They burn so brightly when you’re away from the city.”

He squints. The sun is still up of course although dusk is creeping up. No stars in the sky yet.

“Are we meeting Thor here?” he persists.

“No.”

They head down the path.

Partway down, a wave of pain hits Jane and she falters, grabbing at her stomach and doubling over.

Loki grabs at her arm to prevent her from falling. He turns his hand over to create light and she gasps. “No magic! Remember!”

He freezes.

She pants, trying to remember how to push the pain away.

“Let me look at you,” he insists. “Maybe I can help.”

“No magic,” she reminds him urgently.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asks urgently. “Do you have tablets? Pain pills?”

“There’s nothing to be done,” she murmurs. “Just give me a moment.”

“Have you been to one of your healers … doctors?” he asks. “Are you sure you’re not with child?”

She snorts at that. “I’m certainly, definitely NOT pregnant. Don’t ask me that again.”

“And the healers? You’ve been to see one of them?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because what’s wrong with me is not of earth,” she hisses.

“It’s from Asgard?”

“It’s the Aether,” she confirms.

He looks grim. “Have you told Thor?”

“He knows.”

“That you’re getting worse?”

Jane takes a deep breath and stands up.

“Seriously Jane!” Loki snarls. “Are you in contact with Thor? Tell him!”

“And how would that help?” she asks him wearily. “He knows that I’m ill. He knows what needs to be done. Do you think telling him anything is going to make him work faster?”

“He’ll kill me if anything happens to you,” Loki mutters. “How do you contact him?’

She makes an odd gesture with her hand, her thumb tapping her palm. I have a non-Asgardian method.”

He scowls; she manages a short laugh.

They walk down to the carpark where their car is the only one in the lot.

“Oh!” Jane gasps, rummaging through her pockets. “I’ve lost the keys!”

“Are you serious?”

“I took them out at the top,” she remembers. “They were poking me in the leg so I put them on the bench.”

Loki sighs. “Stay here,” he orders her. “I’ll go get them.”

Jane swallows a few pills from her stash. They haven’t done her much good, but they won’t do her any harm either. She leans back and tries to remember the yoga exercises from years ago. Breathe in, breathe out … slowly.

Loki jogs back so quickly that she wonders if he made it all the way to the top. Did he use magic or did he meet someone coming down who had picked up the keys? He’s breathing a little heavier than usual, but he’s far from winded.

“That was fast,” she greets him. “Did you go all the way up?”

“Of course,” he says, showing her the keys.

They get back in the car and drive home. Loki seems better, less hyped up.

“Did you have an ulterior motive for that hike or were you just showing me the sights as any good host would?” he asks.

She shrugs. “You were looking mighty stir crazy in my apartment. Thought you might appreciate a run.”

“I am NOT a hyperactive kid,” he says haughtily.

“If you say so.”

He peers at her suspiciously. “Did you leave the keys up there on purpose?”

She snorts. “That would be pretty stupid,” she answers tartly.

**

At home, Jane gets out her laptop and goes back to work.

“What are you working on?” Loki grouses, his long pale fingers tapping out a rhythm on his jeans.

“The blueprint for a bridge that would make interdimensional travel possible,” she answers.

“Can’t be done,” he says flatly. “Not without magic.”

“I don’t need magic,” she scoffs. “Just power and ingenuity.”

He’s been snooping in her files for the last two days. She knows this, but there’s nothing that will make sense to anyone else so she’s let it slide.

“Let me see,” he suggests. “Maybe I can help.”

She obligingly shows him her blueprint.

He’s been studying she knows, but he still peers at her blueprint, pretends that he’s figured it out in mere minutes and points to a flaw.

“This isn’t how our bridge works,” he tells her.

“Well of course not,” she agrees sweetly. “You have magic. But we don’t so we’re going to build it a different way.”

He raises one exquisite eyebrow. “How?”

So she starts to show him.

He leans over her shoulder and jabs at the screen. “Can you flip that view?”

She does and they enter into a spirited debate. He is fierce and clever and he’s been bored for a long time – not just in her apartment, but before that in his cell.

She’s thrilled to have Asgardian technology explained so thoroughly to her. Thor is good about helping where he can, but he’s a warrior, not a scholar and has at times struggled to recall what he learned in his lessons.

Not so Loki who can describe how and why various magical structures work as they do. He barely resists throwing up a magical image to show the theory better, but remembers in time to avoid using magic and uses his words instead.  

Jane pulls out marshmallows and toothpicks and attempts to demonstrate the basic format. Loki grabs paper and pencil and draws formulas and shadowy images of an imaginary bridge.

Jane pulls out her last bottle of wine and they drink it and debate and argue and end up sprawled across the couch feeling both drunk and oddly sated.

“It might work,” Loki allows finally.

“Maybe,” she admits. “Won’t know until we try.”

Loki gets up, stretches out his back and much to Jane’s surprise, picks up the bottle and glasses and takes them into the kitchen.

“Oh my,” she says in amusement. “Are you becoming domesticated?”

“Just need a good woman to show me the error of my ways,” he smirks.

“I thought you had one,” she ventures, wondering if their new-found friendliness will vanish.

“Who?” he asks. “Sigyn?”

“Hmm,” she nods. “I hear that there’s a bit of history there?”

He grins, looking a bit sly. “Have you been reading up on Norse mythology?”

“No,” she answers. “Thor says to keep away from such things. He says it’s all lies.”

“Well, he would say that,” Loki agrees.

“Why?”

Loki smirks, it’s almost a default expression on him. “Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t like you reading up on all his past conquests and such.”

Jane rolls her eyes. She’s long since accepted the fact that Thor, looking as he does, being who he is, is going to have some serious romantic history.

“I’m not the jealous type,” she says.

“Every guy wants to hear that,” he says.

“Is that what happened with you and Sigyn?”

“What? Infidelity?” he mocks. “Depends which story you believe.”

She frowns. “Well, what’s the truth?”

He shrugs. “You saw what she looks like.”

“Gorgeous,” Jane answers.

He grins. “Indeed.”

“So you had a bit of a relationship? Dated or courted or whatever you guys do in Asgard?””

“She was engaged to marry someone else,” he recalls. “A real jerk if truth be told, but she wouldn’t listen to me when I warned her.”

Jane nods sleepily.

“So I used magic to transform him into something else right before the wedding and when he returned to his form, he ranted and raved and threw things around and I think he hurt one of the young attendants …”

“Yikes.”

“Hmm,” Loki murmurs. “So Sigyn saw him for who he really was and broke off the wedding. Which was a real scandal so close to the big day.”

“And you two got together.”

“Then and there,” he says with another smirk. “In the chapel actually.”

“Oh! There’s such a thing as too much information,” Jane laughs.

Loki grins and stretches, popping the kinks in his back. “It was never meant to last. She’s with someone else now.”

Jane watches him. “This couch is too small for you, isn’t it?” she observes.

“Yes,” he agrees. “I was thinking that I might try the floor tonight. The couch is not meant for someone of my stature.”

“It’s fine for me,” Jane hears herself saying. “Why don’t you take the bed? I mean, if Thor can fit …”

Loki hesitates. “It’s not very chivalrous.”

“Stuff chivalry,” she says lightly. “I’m comfortable here and you are not.”

To be honest, sleeping in the living room might be better. She’s spent part of the last two nights lying awake in her bed wishing she could come to the kitchen to make herself tea or something, but not willing to risk waking Loki. If he sleeps in the bedroom, she’ll have full access to the kitchen.

So Jane gets ready for bed and settles down on the couch while Loki wanders down the hall to the bedroom. It’s odd and a bit intimate, but Jane is too tired to care about any impropriety.

She wakes in the middle of the night, waves of pain rolling across her body. The Aether is almost like a living thing inside her. Jane can feel it coil and stretch. She gasps and buries her head in her pillow. She tries to take a big breath, but the pain leaves her gasping.

Suddenly Loki is there, stroking her back. “Shh.”

He wipes her forehead with a damp cloth and sits down next to her pulling her almost into his lap.

To her surprise, the pain recedes.

“Are you using magic?” she whispers.

“Little bit,” he murmurs softly. “Not enough for anyone to notice.”

She pulls away. “You mustn’t!”

“The Aether is detectable magic too,” he retorts. “Which kind would you prefer?”

It may be the scariest thing Jane’s heard yet.

She hesitates and he pulls her closer, pressing her head to his chest. “Shh,” he murmurs, stroking her hair.

She relaxes.

With her ear pressed to his chest, she can hear the steady thud-THUD of his heart. His skin is surprisingly cool to the touch; the hairs on his chest tickle her nose. She feels weak, almost disloyal to Thor as Loki’s arms wrap around her.

The relief from constant pain is unbelievable.

After a few minutes, he shifts, re-adjusts and stands, picking her up as easily as an adult would carry a child. Dimly she acknowledges that he must be very strong, but after weeks of sleeping poorly and dealing with unrelenting pain, she now finds herself too sleepy to object as he carries her down the hall to the bedroom. It’s very dark out, must be 3 or 4am since even the street lights that usually shine in the windows are out.

He settles her in bed under a light sheet and then climbs in, wrapping his arms around her.

**

Jane wakes in the morning to the unmistakeable sound of the front door being unlocked and opened. She’s fuzzy headed with the leaden feeling of having slept very thoroughly.

“Jane!” a man’s voice rings through the apartment and Jane blinks in confusion. She can hear Thor walking (heavily) down the hall, but she’s wrapped up in someone’s arms. For a moment she wonders how Thor can be walking down the hall AND lying in bed with her.

And then she remembers ...

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Jane flings away the arm lying lazily across her and rolls over to face … Loki.

He looks sleep tousled and sleepy.

“Hey darling,” he drawls.

Jane scrambles out of bed, her legs tangled in the sheets, just as Thor appears in the doorway.

There’s a pregnant pause as he takes in the scene – Jane struggling to escape the sheets; Loki lounging in bed.

Loki smirks at him.

Thor’s expression switches almost instantly to fury and he’s roaring, “LOKI!” as he reaches for his brother.

With astonishing swiftness, Loki leaps out of bed and dodges.

“Nothing happened!” Jane shrieks, but Thor doesn't’ even look at her as he pins Loki to the wall. His hand is out. Clearly summoning his hammer, but Loki glares at him.

“Your hammer is magic!” Loki reminds him sharply.

“My fists are not!” Thor snarls, slamming his right fist into Loki, or trying to as Loki ducks, blocks the punch with his arm and dances away.

“You’re not surprised, are you?” Loki taunts as he jumps over the bed. “Clever girl like her … how could she resist me?”

He drops a quick kiss on Jane’s cheek as she stands there in shock, before running out of the bedroom and down the hall – Thor in hot pursuit.

He catches Loki just before he reaches the living room and flings him into the wall; the wall shakes and pictures fall off their hooks.

“Stop!” Jane yells, chasing after them. “Thor stop! Nothing happened!”

The men crash into one of the kitchen chairs and they’re on the ground pummeling each other furiously, rolling over, shouting … Jane can hear Thor yelling about ‘respect … virtue … never should have trusted …’

She stands helplessly as they demolish her living room. “Stop! Stop! You assholes! You’re wrecking my apartment!”

Thor grabs Loki and hauls him up. He flings open the back door and throws Loki down the metal stairs into the garden. Then, he jumps down.

Jane screams. Surely no-one can survive the fall, but Loki is up, rolling swiftly away from Thor, then standing in a defensive pose, his hands loose at his sides. “You try touching me again and I’ll blast you to kingdom come, to hell with not using my magic,” he growls at Thor.

“Petty tricks and parlour games,” Thor responds. “Come and take your punishment like a man …”

Jane decides that she’s had enough. The neighbours will be calling the police any minute now (if they haven’t already). She yanks on her shoes and flees, walking quickly down the quiet, early morning street, tears prickling at her eyes.

Black thunder clouds are rolling across the sky with astonishing speed, blotting out the blue sky.

Other walkers are looking up in astonishment. Rain is never unexpected in England but for the weather to change so swiftly is unusual.

She walks briskly into the little town centre where the cute, tourist-ready English shops are lined up side by side. Around the corner is a café where she buys her newspapers and coffee. Large, fat drops of rain are starting to fall and the sky is darkening dramatically.

She slips in quietly. The café is open, but it’s too early to be busy.

“Coffee, please,” she orders shakily, trying to ignore the fact that she’s dressed in nothing but her tank top and pyjama bottoms.

And then she tries to pay at the cash and finds that she hasn’t brought any money.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she apologizes, tears threatening again.

“Don’t worry about it,” the server says gently. “Had a fight with your boyfriend? Go sit down – you can pay later.”

“Thank you.”

She sits at a quiet table near the back, out of sight of the big window. The waitress brings her the coffee and a small pastry.

“I didn’t order this,” Jane murmurs.

“On the house,” the server pats her shoulder gently.

She watches pedestrians scuttle about in the storm, some daring to open their umbrellas, other choosing to put their heads down against the wind now whistling aggressively through the streets.

She drinks her coffee, orders another and picks at the pastry. She sees Thor stride by the café, looking fierce and determined.

She waits.

The rain slows to a drizzle; the wind dies down.

Customers enter the café shaking out their jackets. “Wow!” they exclaim. “Weatherman didn’t warn us of that one, did he?”

It’s several minutes later when Thor enters the café. By this time, the café has filled up with regular customers getting their take out coffee for the commute into work. Thor slips gracefully through the crowd until he gets to Jane’s table tucked away in the back.

He looks serious. “May I?” he asks politely.

Jane motions to the empty chair and he sits gently.

“I’m sorry,” he says gently.

“For which bit?” she asks sharply, surprising even herself with her bitterness.

He hesitates. “For everything?” he suggests. “For the Aether, for dumping Loki on you …”

“And the mess you made of my apartment?”

“Loki is cleaning it up right now,” he says.

“Not the point,” she snaps. “You royal pain in the ass princes, raised in privilege the rest of us can’t imagine …  you don’t get that being able to clean up a mess doesn’t excuse you from anything. You still shouldn’t make the mess in the first place.”

Thor looks uncertain. “Is it the mess that you’re upset about?” he asks.

“Do you think I slept with Loki?”

“No,” he says promptly.

She glares at him.

“It’s Loki’s idea of a joke,” he explains.

The waitress approaches just at the moment looking curious.

Thor smiles politely and orders a small coffee – to go.

“Do you have money?” Jane checks.

“Yes.”

“He’ll pay for my order, too,” she tells the waitress.

“I’m sorry to push you on this, but we need to get going,” Thor says apologetically. “With all the magic … it’s not safe anymore.”

She peers more carefully at him. He’s clean, but banged up, a bruise is blossoming on his cheek and he sports a bandage tinged with blood on his upper arm.

“Did Loki use his magic on you?”

Thor shrugs as they depart the café. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Our fights are often … dramatic.”

“And destructive.”

“Sorry.”

They walk back to the apartment where Loki is dressed and looking rather uselessly at the mess of broken furniture, picture frames, cracked plates …

Jane resolves to ignore the mess as best she can but she notes that the back door doesn’t even close any more – Thor ripped it off the hinges.

Janes dresses; Thor manages not to kill Loki and the three of them walk briskly to a nearby park where tucked into a kind of overgrown hedge is a round silver spaceship about the size of a hummer on stilts.

Jane halts. “You have GOT to be kidding me.”

“Looks a bit small for the army we’re going to need,” Loki grunts.

The hatch slides open with a snick sound and the trio duck inside. Sif greets them as they slid into seats in a round egg shaped pod.

“You look terrible,” she says to Thor. “Did you forget which side of the road they drive on and get hit by a truck or lorry or whatever they call them here?”

Loki barks out a quick laugh; Thor merely looks rueful, rubbing his jaw. “Just some typical roughhousing,” he says idly.

Sif looks amused.

Loki leans over, “Thinks I stole something,” he stage whispers cheekily.

Thor pushes Loki’s head into the wall. “Not a trophy,” he says grimly.

“Boys,” Sif chides them gently.

The door to the cockpit slides open. “Ready?” Sigyn asks.

“Up, up and away,” Sif grins.

Sigyn closes the door.

“Where are we going?” Loki asks.

“Somewhere less populated,” Thor grunts.

Jane settles in squished between Thor and Sif. She can feel the Aether coiling within her, but she’s more rested and is trying to be more confident that finally the problem will be dealt with. It’s showtime.

She tries to avoid looking at Loki, but she’s aware that he is watching her.

The spaceship tilts, tilts, hum, appears to wobble for a moment and then shoots up.

Thor puts his arm around Jane. “You ok?”

“Sure,” she assures him.

Sif pulls out a map and spreads it on the round table in the centre of the pod. “So the plan …” she says.

“Please tell me that where we’re going, there will be an army?” Loki asks drily.

“Nope,” Sif says.

Loki gives Thor a withering look. “What happened to the warriors?”

“They got into some sort of trouble and Odin banished them for a while,” Sif answers for Thor.

“And other allies, soldiers, garrison troops?” Loki persists, looking ever more irritated. “I think the plan called for a bit more firepower, did it not?”

Thor shrugs. “You doubt me, brother? I will have Lady Sif by my side.”

“No disrespect to Sif, but we’re expecting a huge fucking army to fall out of the sky and come after us. I kinda liked the idea of having an army of our own to fight them off.” Loki says tightly, anger burning in his eyes.

“What exactly is the plan?” Jane interrupts in a tight voice.

Sif lays it out on the map, explaining where each person will go and do.

There’s a lot of talk about magic until Jane’s head hurts from trying to understand it. And arguments about whether the box that Thor apparently intends to trade a sword for will work.

Thor explains, Loki sneers – Thor snaps at him, Sif soothes.

Jane watches the interplay with growing annoyance.

Loki snarks because the sword that Thor is trading is a favourite of Odin’s.

“He was planning on giving it to me anyways,” Thor grumbles.

“Still stealing,” Loki insists.

“It’s an object,” Thor snaps. “Worth giving up to save a life.”

“Boys,” Sif murmurs.

Jane sighs. “Can we get back to the actual plan? The step by step?”

Thor tries to explain and even Jane can see how that irritates Loki. They’re starting the same old dance again – Thor being reasonable, Loki pissy and Sif rolling her eyes and saying, ‘boys’.

Jane breaks it up before they go any further.

“So let me see if I understand. You’re going to draw the Aether out of me and put it in a box. The magic will draw bad guys to earth and Thor and Sif will keep them away?”

“Pretty much,” all three Asgardians around the table nod.

Jane pauses. “This sounds like a terrible idea.”

“She’s too smart for the likes of you,” Loki stage whispers to Thor.

Thor sighs. “Jane, my dear,” he murmurs. “It’s crazy, but we have to get this Aether out of you as quickly as possible. As long as Loki does it quickly …”

Loki sneers.

“You can do that, right?” Thor says sharply.

Jane does not like how tense Loki gets when anyone discusses his role. He’s proud, she knows that, and she’s beginning to wonder if he doesn’t want to admit that there might be a weakness in the part he will play.

“Can someone explain the magic to me?” she finally dares ask.

In all the time that she’s been with Thor, she has resisted asking much about magic – it’s not as critical to Thor anyways as he’s so physical, but to Jane, the very existence of magic in Asgard shakes the foundation of her beliefs.

Surprisingly, it’s Sif who makes an effort to explain.

“There are different kinds,” she says kindly. “I mean pretty much anyone can fling an energy burst away from themselves …”

Loki makes a quick flicking motion and Thor ducks away to avoid a ‘ping’ on the wall just past his ear.

Sif rolls her eyes, but continues the lecture. “But the kind of magic needed to pull the Aether out of you and lock it down in another container, is quite complex. Requires some serious power.”

Loki scowls.

Jane ponders. “And how, exactly …” she falters, “will you … um?”

“Good question,” Loki answers sharply.

Sif continues to talk about magic; Loki glowers.

“So,” Jane struggles to understand. “Why does he need a ‘connection’? What does that mean?”

Loki leans across the table. “Give me your hand,” he says bluntly.

She almost looks at Thor as if to ask permission, then decides that she can make this decision on her own. She offers him her hand and he takes it, turns it over and strokes one finger from her wrist, across her palm to the tip of her fingers.

And the Aether pain which has been hovering just under her skin … simply vanishes.

“Oh!” she says in surprise. “You need to touch me for it to work?”

“No,” he says, letting go. The pain stays away.

Thor glares.

“Thank you,” Jane says faintly. “So you have to have contact to start, but then you don’t? You can let go and the … err … magic remains?”

“Very good,” Loki says coolly, sounding as if he thinks she’s a bit of an idiot.

But Jane in pursuit of information is impervious to embarrassment. “And where does the pain go?” she asks eagerly. “Do you feel it? Does it transfer to you?”

He quirks one eyebrow. “No,” he answers, but she’s certain he is lying.

She pursues eagerly. “So will the Aether enter you before you lock it into the box? I mean, is there a transfer of energy?”   

“We don’t have time for this,” Thor warns as the spacecraft dips suddenly to one side. “Just trust that it will work.”

Jane does not miss the glare that Loki sends Thor.

“But for this magic to work,” she persists doggedly, “you have to touch the person?”

“Doesn’t need to be physical,” Loki mutters.

“An emotional connection works too?” Jane asks.

 

The ship dips alarmingly and then hums loudly. Everyone peeks out at the trees swooshing by.

“Where are we?” Thor asks as the ship settles.

Sigyn slides the cockpit door open. “North,” she says bluntly. “As far from major cities as I could find. No humans around for miles.”

 

They slide open the exit door and climb out, the warriors cracking their necks and shrugging their shoulders. Jane shakes out her limbs; the pain from the Aether is gone completely.

Thor and Loki walk a little ways away from the craft and Thor raises his hammer. Jane flinches as a bolt of lightning rises into the air and appears to pierce the sky.

“Subtle,” Loki mutters.

Thor grins.

Jane, Sigyn and Sif sit on the steps on the craft and wait.

 

They don’t have long to wait. The brilliant blue sky above appears to darken and then a hurricane of darkness swirls above them.

Jane shivers. The stars she can see through the apparent hole in the sky are unfamiliar and thrilling. They twinkle and sparkle and glow.

A spaceship drops through the hole and the swirling clouds close up as if they had never opened.

“What if someone notices?” Jane asks. “I mean NASA or one of the European space centres …”

“They never have before,” Sigyn says lightly.

They sit and watch as the spaceship settles. A door opens and three men get out. Jane is relieved to see that they look human. She doesn’t know (and doesn’t want to ask) if they actually ARE Earthlings or whatever, but from this distance, they look just like three men, dressed for space travel in black leather jackets, dark pants studded with metal and quirky head coverings.

The nod and shake hands, exchange some chit chat …

Jane can’t hear them of course so she watches their body language. Thor is open, expansive. He laughs at one point and nudges Loki who remains guarded and careful. He tips his head and Jane imagines him making a cool, snarky response to whatever amused Thor.

Thor pulls out the sword, which is smaller than Jane had expected. He displays it for the others to see; they lean in and touch it and chat amongst themselves.

Then the visitors pull out a kind of floating table and unveil … well, Jane cannot quite see what it is, but she presumes that it’s the box for the Aether. It’s smaller than expected – about the size of a toaster although she can’t see it very well.

She watches Thor as he negotiates, shakes his head, and strokes his beard. Loki scowls, stands with his arms crossed and appears to be deeply reluctant to make a deal.

Jane’s attention wavers; idly she watches as Sif and Sigyn chat, touch hands briefly, separate to survey their surroundings and settle down again.

Suddenly Thor is shouting.

Jane whirls.

Thor has his hammer up and black clouds are swirling around like a hurricane.

Loki is suddenly at Jane’s side, carrying the box under his arm. “Come here!” he commands, grabbing her elbow.

She allows him to hustle her around the other side of the space ship, behind some trees, where he drops the box unceremoniously and begins to wave his hands around and do ‘magical’ things that Jane is in no mood to appreciate.

“How long is this going to take?” she asks.

He scowls.

Jane looks up. The sky is a vortex of black clouds and at the eye of the storm; she can see a hole or window into inky black space. She’s not sure if it’s true or her imagination, but she thinks she can see small objects dropping from the hole into Earth’s sky.

Behind her, she can hear Sif and Thor shouting, but she cannot see them.

“Are you ready yet?” she asks nervously.

“Quit fussing at me,” he growls.

The objects in the sky are close enough for Jane to see that they are, terrifyingly enough, actually space craft, zooming towards them.

“Once you have the Aether in the box, we’ll get out of here, right?” she asks nervously. “Where will all the aliens go?”

“Well SOME of the aliens will get in a spaceship with you and take you to safety,” he answers drily.

“I mean …”

“I know.”

“I knew there was life out there,” she tells him. “I never doubted that we’d find life eventually.”

“Just didn’t expect it to come visiting quite so soon?” he says lightly.

She throws him a despairing look.

“Here,” he commands, holding out his hand. “Stand here.”

She obeys meekly, trying to ignore the sounds of battle from the field just out of sight. A crash of lightning makes her jump.

Loki cups her face with one hand and places his other hand on the box, now set up neatly on the floating table. He closes his eyes and concentrates.

Jane can feel the Aether swirl within her, but no more than usual.

Loki opens his eyes, shakes out his hand and touches her again.

“It’s not working, is it?” she says anxiously.

“It will,” he says gruffly, looking grim.

“What do you need?” she presses. 

He scowls.

Jane looks up – the hole in the sky is no more although the clouds are still dark and forbidding. She can hear the battle going on in the field – she can make out Sif and Thor’s voices as they shout to each other, but she cannot see either of them.

“Close your eyes,” she tells Loki firmly.

“What?”

“Trust me,” she says.

He scowls for a moment and then reluctantly closes his eyes. One hand remains protectively on the box as if he is afraid to let it go.

Jane checks once more to ensure that Thor is out of sight and then she reaches up on her tiptoes and kisses Loki.

He startles slightly and then surprises her by responding – enthusiastically.

His free hand slips around her waist and pulls her closer, his mouth hard and demanding on hers.

 


	3. Chapter 3

It turns out that Loki can kiss.

Like really knows how to kiss. And maybe he’s been a little bit deprived in his jail cell so now he’s making up for it and Jane feels a little wobbly on her feet as he kisses her with great passion and skill.

She can’t help but respond, kissing him back, her mouth open, teeth bumping, tongue swiping … feeling a little breathless.

And she can feel the Aether stir within her.

 

The next thing Jane knows, she’s on the ground feeling woozy and Sigyn is leaning over her.

She blinks owlishly at Sigyn who grins back at her.

“What the …?” Jane asks.

“Can you get up?” Sigyn asks, offering her a hand.

Jane sits up, hauls herself to her feet with Sigyn’s help and staggers slightly.

Loki is no-where to be seen, but the battle is intensifying both in noise and chaos.

“Come,” Sigyn urges her firmly, grasping her elbow. “Can you run or shall I carry you?”

“Run,” Jane assures her shakily.

They run to the spaceship, kick open the door and Jane slides into one of the seats while Sigyn slips into the cockpit.

Sif jumps into the ship as the engines hum into life.

“Go!” she commands. “Lift off!”

And obligingly, Sigyn has the ship take off, hovering in the air for a moment before tilting and zooming away.

“Wait!” Jane gasps. “What about Thor? And Loki?”

“They’ll be fine,” Sif pants, unfastening one of her greaves. There is a significant amount of blood on her arm under the armour and Jane is momentarily distracted.

“Are you hurt?” she asks and immediately feels foolish.

“Huh,” grunts Sif. “Hand me that first aid kit, would you?”

Jane pulls out the kit and pulls out the bandage that Sif points to. “What about the guys?” she asks again.

“They’ll be fine,” Sif assures her as she wipes down the bloody limb with an antiseptic cloth and then wraps the bandage around her arm. “They’re catching a ride with the guardians to take the Aether back.” She squints at Jane. “They got it, right? Loki trapped it in the box as planned?”

“Uh huh, I think so,” Jane says vaguely.

“What happened to you?” Sif asks curiously. “You look all … shaky.”

“I’m fine,” Jane assures her.

Sigyn pokes her head out of the open cockpit door. “She got ‘loki’d,” she says with a grin.

“What?” Sif scowls.

“What?” Jane asks in confusion.

Sigyn laughs delightedly. “I saw! Don’t try to pretend it didn’t happen.”

Jane scowls; Sif looks at her expectantly.

“There was some … he had some problems … with the magic and all.”

“Uh huh?”

“It wasn’t working,” Jane persists.

“Performance issues,” Sif jokes. “Gonna give him the gears about that.”

“So I thought he needed a ‘connection’,” Jane explains. “That’s how it works, right? The magic?”

Sif looks dubious.

“So I kissed,” Jane falters. “Well, he kissed … there was some kissing.”

Sif grins. “Ah.”

Jane scowls. “It didn’t mean anything.” And then she swallows nervously. “I hope Thor didn’t see.”

“He’s good, isn’t he?” Sif says lightly. “Loki, I mean. Now you know why he’s known as silvertongue.”

“I thought that was more because he could talk … I mean that he’s so … eloquent and um …” Jane groans. “Oh man, I’m in so much trouble. Thor’s going to kill me, isn’t he?”

Sif pats her arm gently.

Sigyn laughs in the cockpit and the little ship tilts again and zips across the sky.

“Do you think anyone saw?” Jane asks rather desperately. “Can I keep this from Thor?”

“Don’t even try,” Sif counsels her firmly. “Loki knows and if you try to keep it a secret, he’ll hold it over your head forever.”

“Or drop it on Thor in the midst of a battle to wreck his concentration,” Sigyn offers.

“Best to tell Thor,” Sif says seriously.

“But they’re so competitive,” Jane worries.

Sif nods. “But he’ll find out anyways – best you tell him.”

 

**

 

Confession takes a back seat to dealing with alien invaders and saving the world from the evils of the Aether.

Jane wishes she could be as poised as Pepper Potts who greets them at the top of Stark Tower at 2AM wearing yoga pants and a T-shirt and still manages to be completely calm and collected.

She is unbothered by their unexpected and unannounced arrival – in a spaceship no less – or by their tale of extraterrestrial mist and the potential of an alien attack.

“Are you hungry?” she asks calmly, leading them barefooted to the kitchen just off the main living area. “Our chef’s gone home for the evening of course, but I can rustle something up.”

Both Sif and Sigyn are horrified at the thought of Pepper having to cook for them and Jane is all for ordering in (they are in New York after all), but Pepper waves away their concerns.

“I don’t cook much anymore,” she says lightly. “But before I worked for Tony I was a single gal on a budget. I still remember how to cook an omelette.”

Jarvis obligingly points out that she has the ingredients for a slightly more adventurous meal and pretty soon, they’re chatting in the kitchen while Pepper cooks. Jane confesses her fears about the battle that Thor is fighting somewhere in a faraway galaxy, Sif makes everyone laugh with a description of the ineptness of the combatants, and Sigyn breaks open the wine and pokes around the Migardian kitchen curiously.

Tony, it appears, is not in New York, but Pepper has access to all the resources they need so they plan as they eat. By the time she finishes, Jane is blinking owlishly and close to falling asleep at the table.

“Let me show you to your rooms,” Pepper offers graciously.

Sif and Sigyn look at each awkwardly.

Pepper intercepts the look and appears amused. “I guess you’re sharing?” she says.

“Err yes, if you don’t mind?” Sif nods. “I mean, I know on Migard …”

Pepper waves away their discomfort. “Not all Migardians,” she assures them.


	4. Chapter 4

Sif and Sigyn depart for Asgard the next morning, but Jane stays several days at Stark Tower, catching up on her sleep, eating scrumptious meals, enjoying the view and just generally recovering.

One evening Jane wakes in the middle of the night with an urge to ... well get up and go out to the main living area.

So she does even though following her instincts when she has no logical, rational, or scientific reason to want to be in the living area in the middle of the night, gives her the heebie jeebies. She does not believe in unquantifiable feelings.

She prowls the cavernous living area at the top of Stark Tower. The twinkly lights of New York are pretty, but make it difficult to see the starry sky that Jane so adores.

And suddenly she’s blinking her eyes suspiciously as a star in the sky twinkles a little brighter and then flashes alarmingly. Jane rubs her eyes and tries to focus. That’s no star. It’s not an airplane either. It’s heading directly for the tower at an alarming speed.

She hesitates for a critical moment wondering if she should warn someone of the impending arrival or crash of something.

“Jarvis?” she murmurs uncertainly.

“I don’t believe it’s anything to be concerned about,” Jarvis says reassuringly.

“Really?” she says uneasily. “What is it?”

“Not what, but who,” the soft melodious voice says gently.

And with a flash of light and a crash that should wake everyone in the building, Thor lands heavily on the landing pad outside.

“Oh my God!” Jane exclaims.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Jarvis says slyly. How does Tony program humor into an AI?

Jane rushes to the door and fumbles frantically with the locking mechanism. Thor spies her and grins delightedly. He waves and strides purposely forward, his hammer raised as if to bash through the flimsy glass keeping him from Jane.

“No, no!” Jane squeaks. “Hold on! I’ve almost got it.”

The lock clicks and she grabs the handle and flings the sliding glass door open.

“Jane!” Thor exclaims in delight.

“Thor!” she flings her arms around him and buries her face in his beard.

“It’s ok,” he murmurs into her hair, holding her tight. “I’m good, it’s all fine. We won.”

Thor tips her face up so he can kiss her gently.

Finally, Jane pulls back. “Come on into the Tower,” she invites him. “Are you hungry? I want to hear all about the battle and the results and is the Aether really gone?”

“It’s contained,” Thor answers gruffly.

“Good,” Jane says absently, leading him inside.

“But Jane, my dear, there’s something you should know,” he says quietly. “About Loki.”

“What?”’ Her heart thuds painfully and she wonders if she looks as guilty as she feels.

“He … um … he fought bravely,” Thor scowls, looking away. “But he … he died. He was stabbed.”

Jane gasps. “Oh Thor! I’m so sorry.” She reaches for him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. It’s not easy. He’s dressed in leather and metal armour, but she holds him as tight as she can and ignores the sneaky little voice in her head saying – at least your secret is safe.

Thor kisses the top of her head.

“He meant so much to you,” she murmurs.

“He was my brother,” Thor agrees sadly. “We had a bond. It is unfathomable to imagine life without him.”

Jane pulls away and looks at him sadly. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Your very presence is a balm to my soul,” he says.

Jarvis coughs discretely.

Jane scowls at the ceiling.

“Your arrival has been noted, Prince Thor,” Jarvis announces in his best butler voice. “Ms. Potts is on her way.”

Pepper does indeed show up shortly after. She kisses Thor on the cheek and offers him a drink.

“You are very generous to host Jane and my Asgardian comrades at such short notice,” he says graciously, accepting a whiskey on ice from her. “I thank you for that.”

“It was my pleasure,” Pepper assures him. “And I won’t keep you from Jane – I just wanted to welcome you to our home.”

Thor gives both women a brief summary of the battle and the results.

Pepper commiserates on the loss of his brother. “Siblings know you the longest and generally know better than anyone how you tick,” she observes wisely. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Considering what he did to Migard, and to New York in particular, that’s very forgiving of you,” he says politely.

Pepper smiles. “What Loki did to us and ours does not affect how you feel about him, does it?”

“No,” he agrees. “In fact, having such a complicated relationship probably makes the loss more challenging to deal with.”

Pepper nods and says farewell. Jane leads Thor down to her room.

Thor hangs his hammer up and removes the outer level of his armour. “I hate to ask,” he says carefully. “But do you mind if I bathe first, I mean before, we …?”

Jane grins. “Of course not. The shower is this way.”

“Thanks.” He kisses her quickly. “I came straight from the battlefield and I’m a little too aromatic to be romantic.” He waggles his eyebrows.

Jane sits crossed legged on her bed and tries to quiet the voice in her head that tells her, even with Loki’s death, that she should still tell Thor of the kissing.

-          He’ll never know, one part of her argues.

-          You’ll know, the other part of her counters.

-          It will only hurt Thor.

-          You can never keep a secret – you’ll end up telling him eventually.

She still hasn’t made up her mind when Thor emerges from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his hips.

Oh dear god (or gods) but he is beautiful. Golden skin, chiseled abs, such an amazing body.

He smiles at her as if she is the most important person in the world and she shivers a little.

She’s superstitious, nothing so good can come without a price, but she’s sure she doesn't deserve him.

"My lady Jane," he says softly in that oh so sexy accent, "you are so exquisitely beautiful. Every day with you is such a gift."

She refrains from rolling her eyes.

He drops the towel, so deliciously comfortable in his skin.

Jane bits her lip in anticipation.

Thor climbs into bed and reaches for her. "How are you?" he asks nuzzling her neck. "I have missed you."

She kisses him, loving the scratchy feel of his beard; she rakes her fingers over his skin.

It's been a long time and they’re both hungry for each other. Thor peels off Jane’s night clothes and presses her back into the soft embrace of the bed. He ducks his head to lay kisses along her neck, nibble at her breasts, his fingers sliding south ...

Jane sighs and murmurs, running her fingers through his hair.

But she is troubled.

Thor pauses. "Are you ok?" he asks gently.

"Yes, of course," she assures him. "Keep going."

He kisses her more fiercely and she gasps in pleasure as his fingers find an especially delicate spot.

"Jane," he says warily. "Are you sure about this? You seem ... distracted."

"I'm fine!" she insists.

He frowns at her, but continues to trail kisses down her body.

"Wait," Jane gasps.

Thor smiles ruefully and pulls himself up to lie beside her. "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing," she says. "I mean, nothing to worry about."

He waits patiently, looking amused.

"It's about Loki," she admits.

"Hmmm?"

"He ... um ... we ... ah ..."

"That night in London?" Thor guesses.

It takes Jane a moment to remember what he’s referring to. "Oh no," she squeaks. "Oh no! Nothing happened then, just like we said. Really! He was just winding you up."

Thor nods. And waits.

"It was after," she whispers guilty.

Thor raises one eyebrow quizzically.

"He kissed ... we kissed ... I wasn't planning to tell you except Sigyn said ... it was for the Aether . .. his magic wasn't working ... it was my fault ..."

Thor scowls trying to make sense of her babble. "Loki kissed you?" he guesses.

"Yes," Jane admits.

Thor nods.

Jane sniffles as if she's close to tears.

"And this is a problem?" Thor says carefully. "Did he hurt you? On Migard is it common to seek vengeance for such an act?"

"Oh god no!" Jane exclaims. "In case ... well ... if you found out ..."

"And do you prefer him?" Thor asks, his brow furrowed.

"No!" Jane cries. "Oh I'm making such a hash of this. I only wanted you to know."

Thor smiles and smoothes a lock of hair from her forehead. "Loki is ... was ... ever a prankster. He was forever flirting with the ladies of the court, especially those I had my eyes on. I knew when I left him to stay with you that he would seek to steal your heart, but I had faith that you would resist."

"I did," she assures him. "How could he compete with the God of Thunder?"

Thor smirks.

Jane smiles and runs her hand down his torso. "Sorry I said anything at all. Where were we?"

Thor grins and shifts. "I've missed you my lady," he murmurs. "Shall I demonstrate just how much?"


End file.
